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The conviction of Christa Pike in 1996 for the gruesome murder of her Job Corps classmate, Colleen Slemmer, shook the nation as the details of the investigation were made public over time. Pike is one of the youngest women to be put on death row in the United States and will become the first person to be executed in Tennessee in the past 200 years.
Christa Pike was found guilty of first-degree murder of Colleen as she was brutally beaten, throat slashed, and bludgeoned to death in January 1995. She is presently incarcerated at Debra K. Johnson Rehabilitation Center and is awaiting an execution date.
The Mean Girl Murders episode titled She-Devil airs on May 20, 2024, at 9 pm EST on Investigation Discovery and delves into the story behind the murder of Colleen Slemmer. The official synopsis reads,
"There is only one woman on death row in Tennessee, and this is her story. In 1995, Christa Pike is introduced to satanism. Her fascination with the dark underworld grows until it comes to a deadly head in the woods one night in January."
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Why was Christa Pike arrested? Details explored
The 18-year-old Job Corps student at the Knoxville Center, Christa Pike, had hatched a plan to teach classmate Colleen Slemmer a lesson for allegedly trying to steal her boyfriend. Pike had enrolled herself at the Job Corps in the fall of 1994 and soon started dating 17-year-old Tadaryl Shipp.
According to court documents, Christa had reportedly told a friend, Kim Iloilo, that she would like to kill Slemmer as she felt mean that day. Pike lured Slemmer into an abandoned steam plant near the University of Tennessee campus in exchange for cannabis and an alleged attempt to mend their relationship.
According to Pike's statement to the Knoxville Police Department, Slemmer and she had been having problems. Pike mentioned having woken up to Slemmer standing over her, armed with a box cutter. She took a box cutter and borrowed a miniature meat cleaver to attack Slemmer in the secluded area on the University of Tennessee Agricultural campus near Tyson Park on January 12, 1995.
Colleen Slemmer was brutally beaten, cut, and bludgeoned to death with a large rock of asphalt. Slemmer was found dead the next day by a University of Tennessee Grounds Department employee. Her half-naked body was found face down in debris with cuts all over her body. Slemmer's throat was slashed at least six times.
Christa Pike, Tadaryl Shipp, and one of their other friends, Shadolla Peterson, tortured Slemmer for 30 minutes before a final blow to the head that killed her. Pike allegedly pocketed a broken piece of Slemmer's skull and showed it to her classmates the following day, bragging about her doings.
The medical examiner found a pentagram carved on Colleen's chest. The trio was arrested within 36 hours of the discovery of Colleen Slemmer's mutilated corpse.
Where is Christa Pike now?
The evidence of Slemmer's DNA found on Pike and Shipp's clothing corroborated Christa Pike's confession to the crime. The young couple was spotted with pentagram necklaces two days after the murder, per court documents. Put together with witness statements, Pike was arrested and put on trial in March 1996.
Christa Pike was sentenced to death by electrocution for the first-degree murder of Colleen Slemmer. She became one of the youngest women on death row in the past 200 years in the United States. Pike was sentenced to an additional 25 years for conspiracy to commit first-degree murder.
Christa was scheduled to be executed on August 19, 2002, but she appealed the decision, leading to a postponement. Pike filed for appeals for retrial in 2008 and 2014, but all requests were turned down. She is presently under maximum security at Debra K. Johnson Rehabilitation Center.
Catch season 2 episode 9 of Mean Girl Murders on Investigation Discovery on Monday.
